Archive for England

Hands off our NHS

September 23, 2006 England, Labour No comments

Gordon Brown, Tartan Taxman, Ignorant Jock and heir apparent to Princess Tony’s throne has been explaining what he intends to do with the English NHS when he takes over.

The MP for Kirkaldy and Cowdenbeath in North Britain has decided that he’s going to “devolve” the NHS in England to an “independent” board.

I’d like to suggest a name for this independent board – how about the English Parliament?  While they’re at it they might as well devolve farming, fisheries, forestry, housing, local government, heritage, planning, police, fire service, social work, sports, arts, statistics, public records, transport, tourism and economic development to the same body.

Hain’s nose put out

September 15, 2006 Anglophobia, England, Labour, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales 3 comments

Peter Hain, Northern Ireland and Welsh Secretary and prize bigot, has got his knickers in a twist over Tory plans to stop MP’s that don’t represent English cosntituencies from interfering in English-only legislation.

The bigot supports the Labour Stazi policy of anti-English apartheid and minority rule and sees no problem with him being able to vote on matters entirely restricted to England when he can’t vote on those same matters in his own constituency.

Hain is a firm believer in devolution … but only for Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.  He thinks that the Tories policy of English Votes on English Matters (EVoEM) will break up the union … but stopping English MP’s from voting on devolved matters in the rest of the UK won’t.  He also thinks that stopping MP’s not elected in England from voting on English-only matters will create second-class British MP’s … but stopping English MP’s from doing the reverse hasn’t.  He believes it is his “right” to vote on English-only legislation … but not to vote on devolved matters outside of England.

The only thing consistent about the bigot‘s arguments is that they are consistently inconsistent.

Hard Rock Café finds England

September 15, 2006 England No comments

Hard Rock Café have corrected their website so that it now correctly lists English cafés.

Hard Rock Café

September 12, 2006 England 4 comments

Hard Rock Café (or perhaps, judging by their latest financial figures, that should be Hard Luck Café) have an excellent store selector where you can find all their sites anywhere in the world.

Unfortunately, their web monkey’s flunked GCSE geography and can’t seem to tell the difference between the United Kingdom and England.  North Britain and West Britain are, apparently, no longer part of the United Kingdom.  Does this mean we don’t have to pay for them any more?

Beware the enemy within

September 10, 2006 Anglophobia, England, Scotland, Terrorism No comments

England is once again under the threat of terrorism from people living within our borders.  But this time it’s not one of Chairman Blair‘s special muslim terrorists, it’s the master race we have to worry about.

The North British National Liberation Army (SNLA) has sent an email to the offices of the Sunday Times in Glasgow threatening to poison English water supplies.  The political wing of the SNLA, the North British Separatist Group (SSG), has published details on how to permanently contaminate the water supply of a large city on its website.

The article can be read here.

Hospital Cuts

September 6, 2006 England, Regions No comments

The Princess Royal Hospital in Telford has been threatened with cuts to its A&E service as the NHS trust in Shropshire tries to cut its £31m debts.  The A&E service has supposedly been saved but at the expense of the consultant-led paediatrics unit meaning that any children taken seriously ill at night will have to be taken about 15 miles to the Royal shrewsbury Hospital instead.

Earlier this year the Shrewsbury & Telford NHS Trust was forced to hand over a chunk of this years budget to a regional NHS bank set up by the Department of Health.  They then had to borrow back that money – and more – in the form of a loan from that bank.  Shortly afterwards a West Midlands regional health authority was created and the NHS Trust subsumed into it.  The NHS Trust had no say in any of this and there was no public consultation.

The regional health authority put a stop to the plans that Shrewsbury & Telford had drawn up to deal with their debts on the basis that someone in Birmingham who has nothing to do with the hospitals is better placed to make a decision about those hospitals and it is the reigonal health authority who have made the decision to cut the level of care at Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital.

The regionalisation of England continues unchecked, in secret and unopposed.  The Tories are opposed to it but where are they when services are regionalised and cut back?  Where is Telford’s Tory MP, Mark Pritchard, when these decisions are taken?

Letter: Shropshire Star

September 5, 2006 Anglophobia, England, Letters 5 comments

Lives not worth cost of drugs

The Shropshire Star, along with most of the UK media and the charity Beating Bowel Cancer, all incorrectly reported that the two bowel cancer drugs Avastin and Erbitux were being denied to patients in the UK.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has refused to license the drugs on the basis of cost for English patients. Health is a devolved matter and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales put a higher price on the lives of their own people than the British government does on the lives of English people.

The annual £20bn subsidy that English taxpayers pay to the rest of the UK covers the cost of expensive medical treatments along with the many other perks that our neighbours have become accustomed to at the expense of the same benefits and life-saving treatments being made available to the English.

The situation with these bowel cancer drugs is the same as with Herceptin and means that English sufferers are denied the most effective drugs because the drugs are worth more than an English life. Like Herceptin, these two bowel cancer drugs are available in every EU member state except England.

The British government, when considering funding for expensive medical treatments, has to consider the impact it will have on Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The devolved administrations in those countries only have to consider themselves. If we were allowed an English parliament then we might be allowed the same life-saving drugs that our taxes fund for the rest of the UK.

Stuart Parr, Telford

Germany unveils “trans-national” regions

September 4, 2006 Britain, England, Federal Europe, Northern Ireland, Regions, Scotland, Wales 2 comments

Germany has unveiled their planned “trans-national” regions which they will propose when they take over the EU presidency in January.  They have also promised to revive the EU Constitution which was rejected in referenda in France and the Netherlands – both pro-EU countries.

The new euroregions will cross national boundaries in an attempt to destroy the borders between member states and foster a European national identity.  A German minister called Wolfgang Tiefensee is quoted as saying “There is the great hope underlying the goal of a United Europe that we can overcome old borders.”  The best map I’ve seen today is, I’m afraid, in the Sun.  Apologies in advance for linking to the gutter press but needs must – The EU’s Mad Map.

Wolfgang, Schieben Sie Ihre Karte auf Ihren Arsch.

EU Constitution poll

September 4, 2006 Britain, England, Federal Europe, Police State, Regions No comments

A man from Patriotic Poll has contacted me about a poll they have on the EU Constitution.  The question is simple – Should the UK ratify the treaty establishing an EU constitution?  This is the question the British government said they were going to ask us but, as early indications showed the constitution stood about as much chance as a ghost’s fart in a force 10 gale of getting approved, they predictably cancelled the vote.

It’s the wrong type of patriotism for me – British rather than English – but I’m happy to work for the common good.  Click here to vote.

Practice what you preach

September 4, 2006 England, Regions No comments

Telford & Wrekin Council send a “free” newspaper round to houses and businesses in the borough eight times a year.  It’s an opportunity for the council to tell us all how fabulous they are and to splash the EU flag around on every other page while they tell us about the tiny percentage of our forced EU contributions we have been given back in the form of grants to the borough.

The August edition has an absolutely priceless article written by someone at Telford & Wrekin Council which has recently signed the borough up to the West Midlands city region (now known as the Birmingham, Coventry and Black Country City Region) without any public consultation or a referendum – both of which they have actively refused to provide.

LOCAL Democracy Week, running from Monday 16th October until Friday 20th October, is a very special time both nationally and locally as it’s during this week that democracy, participation and active involvement is celebrated.

What is democracy?
A democracy is when people are able to play a part in decision making and vote for people to represent their views and opinions. In a democracy there is debate and discussion before decisions are made and people are encouraged to be actively involved in their community.

Since Local Democracy Week started in 1997, councils in England and Wales have held over 2,000 events ranging from Question Time to Mayor for the Day, I’m a Councillor Get Me Out Of Here and Political Speed Dating. Last year more than 300 councils took part in Local Democracy Week.

The Local Democracy Campaign 2006 aims to:

  • make councils more relevant and useful to young people
  • encourage young people to ‘take part: take power’
  • make Local Democracy Week bigger and better than before
  • increase councillor involvement in citizenship teaching in schools
  • get councils to devolve power, wherever appropriate, to local people

The theme for this year is “Take Part:Take Power!” and we are inviting young people from across the borough to “Take Part!” in lots of fun events during this week to celebrate their active involvement within the local area.

Young people will also be encouraged to “Take Power!” by sharing their thoughts and feelings about issues that affect them with local decision makers from across the borough. LDW 2006 is being jointly organised by the Borough’s Children & Young People’s Active Involvement Service and Legal and Democratic Services.

For the record, I phoned Legal and Democratic Services at Telford & Wrekin Council after reading this and asked if this applied to the city region. It doesn’t.

If you don’t like our flag go somewhere else

September 2, 2006 England 4 comments

The Daily Mail has a letter today from 4 young muslims who want to change our flag because its Christian symbolism is offensive to them.

We British Muslim lads, born in England of Pakistani parents, are football fans and our team is Manchester united.

We’d like to support England at football and other sports, but we can’t because the flag is unacceptable to Muslims.

No Muslim home in our area displayed the England flag during the world cup. That flag represents Christianity: it’s the anti-Muslim flag of the Templars and the Crusaders.

The vast majority of Muslims and, we believe, Englishmen in general would support changing the flag from its present style to the three lions.

That would be a flag which all elements of the community would be willing to support.

We don’t wish to be ‘radicalized’ and we would never become terrorists, but the continual use of an anti-Islamic flag increases our sympathy for, and understanding of, our fellow Muslims who believe direct action is the only way to make our voices heard.

Samir, Said, Ahmed and Tariq, Manchester

Samir, Said, Ahmed and Tariq, let me just tell you in no uncertain terms that no, we don’t want to change our flag because it offends your unreasonable and intolerant religion.  Most English people don’t want to see the Cross of St George replaced with the three lions of our national football team.  If you can’t support your national football team because the flag of your country is offensive to you then it’s about time you went somewhere else.  The crescent and star of Islam are offensive to me because they represent an anti-English, anti-western, anti-democracy, anti-women religion, the aim of which is to Islamify the whole world whether they want it or not.

Hat-tip: Armchair Activist

Council Baiting

September 1, 2006 England, Regions No comments

I was a busy bee this afternoon trying to find out what work it is that the city region is going to be doing as nobody seems to have been able (or willing) to tell me before.  First stop Telford & Wrekin Council.

Called T&W Council and the switchboard operator put me through to a bewildered Leisure Services person who then referred me to the PR office.  The lady at the PR office told me that there are only two people at T&W Council that know enough about the city region to talk to me.  I asked her why it was that not even council employees knew anything about this and why, if it is such a good thing, it is all being kept secret.  She took offence at this and haughtily gave me her opinion that it wasn’t a secret at all.  I told her that I had been refused a copy of the proposal for the city region more than once, one occasion being a Freedom of Information Act request.  She took my name and number and left a message for the man in the know to ring me because he is conveniently unavailable today.

Next on my list was the Standards Board for England to ask them if the Leader of the Council, Keith Austin, had a predetermined opinion and/or prejudicial interest when he recommended the cabinet vote in favour of the city region when he gets a job with them and had been quoted more than once in the Shropshire Star beforehand saying what a wonderful idea it is.  They said there may be a case and invited me to submit a complaint.

The thought of this New Labour toad being hauled in front of the Standards Board kept me amused for all of 5 minutes so I decided to phone Birmingham City Council.  I spoke to a North British gentleman called Sandy who I spoke to once a few months ago.  He remembered who I was.  We had a heated discussion in which he failed to explain why the councils in the West Midlands euroregion can’t just co-operate without setting up yet another unelected regional government at the taxpayers expense, where and how the extra investment and benefits are coming from and why there is not going to be any referendum on the city region when even Telford’s europhile Labour MP said that the people of Telford don’t want regional government.  He also explained that the reason people in the North East euroregion rejected their regional assembly in a referendum was because they were unelected, couldn’t pass legislation and didn’t have much power whereas the city region … oh, there’s no difference.  He said that I should trust in the council leaders’ decisions as they were doing what is best for the region.  I suggested that they approved of it because it’s Labour Party policy and it’s a Labour council at which point he shouted that I couldn’t say that to which I replied “I can and I just did” and that the Chief Exec of T&W Council is a card carrying member of the Labour Party.  He got a bit wound up at this point and we weren’t getting anywhere so I made one final stab and getting him to contradict himself by asking him to confirm that we won’t be getting a say in the city region and that the consultation will be held once the decisions have all been made.  He said I couldn’t twist his words like that but confirmed that there wouldn’t be a referendum so … we aren’t going to have a say?

MP in worry over jobs

September 1, 2006 England, Regions No comments

The following is an excerpt from the newly-redesigned (and frankly appaling) Shropshire Star website on the city region.

MP in worry over jobs

Telford will be losing out on jobs and investment because its name has been left off the newly-planned West Midlands city region, it has been claimed. It was announced today that the proposed new strategic policy-making body will be called The Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country City region. Telford and Solihull councils are the only two to be ignored by the new title.

Today Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard said leaving Telford out of the title would mean it would not benefit from the same opportunities as the named areas. But bosses at Telford & Wrekin Council said the work and decisions of the body was much more important than the name.

This is all well and good Mark but I warned you a while ago that Telford was going to be shafted and did you listen? No, you wanted to wait and see what happened before you did anything. Well, I told you so and even now that you can see that Telford really is getting taken for a ride I bet you still do nothing about it.

Thanks Defra

September 1, 2006 England, Police State, Technology 5 comments

Defra have created a wiki for an Environmental Contract.  Wiki’s are a collaborative tool in which web users can contribute to the content and help build up a kind of online encyclopaedia.  For an organisation, such as a government department, there is the option to restrict who can make changes to the wiki in question.  Nobody appears to have told Defra this though and some enterprising individuals have been making some helpful changes.

This page obviously isn’t going to last long so, for posterities sake … click here.

Hat-tip: Devils Kitchen

Update:
Someone at Defra has reverted the pages back to their original state but the good news is that the old revisions are preserved by tagging ?revision=### where ### is a number from 139 downwards.  For example: http://wiki.defra.gov.uk/WikiHome/EnvironmentContract?revision=139

Volunteers Wanted

August 30, 2006 England, Regions No comments

Volunteers needed in the West Midlands euroregion to join a campaign against the West Midlands City Region and the rest of the unelected regional bureaucracy.

For more information, contact me.

SNP call for abolition of unfair fees … for the English!

August 28, 2006 Anglophobia, England, Scotland No comments

The SNP have called for the abolition of the discriminatory university fees regime in North Britain that forces English students studying north of the border paying up to £4k more than a North Briton or EU student for the same course.

The Labour and the Lib Dum controlled North British Parliament introduced the racist fees when their North British MP’s imposed top-up fees on England against the will of MP’s elected in England.

It’s really quite depressing when you think that over half of the MP’s in the British parliament are elected in English constituencies yet the only political party opposing anti-English discrimination (with the obvious exception of the English Democrats) is the SNP.

Astounding Discovery

August 27, 2006 Anglophobia, England No comments

Intrepid explorer, Wonko The Sane, has returned from an expedition to Tescoland with an astaunding discovery – a box of mushrooms with a label saying their origin is … ENGLAND!

I didn’t even want them, I just brought them because they said England on.

Big Brother’s bin watching you

August 27, 2006 England, Police State No comments

Source: Mail on Sunday

Around 500,000 housholds in England have had their wheelie bins secretly microchipped so that they can be uniquely identified.  This opens up opportunies for charging residents for the amount of rubbish they produce, something that will most impact young families who can’t recycle nappies, baby wipes, etc.

Some dustbin lorries already have weighing equipment fitted so implementing this policy will be relatively easy.  Local Authorities already have the power to tell you how and when your rubbish must be made available.  They can force you to recycle, refuse to accept certain items and in theory could even force you to take your wheelie bin to a collection point 10 miles down the road if they so wish with thousands of pounds in fines for refusing to obey their instructions.

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